March 15, 2017

Cedar Point Winter Chillout 2017

On February 25th, Cedar Point held its annual Winter Chillout for coaster enthusiasts to
tour the park during the offseason. The event was $50 a person and all proceeds went to the
charity A Kid Again. According to the park, they were able to raise over $40,000 for the charity.

Our tickets were for the 8am group. The day started off with everyone checking in at
guest services to get their lanyard and meal ticket. We then proceeded to Midway Market for a small breakfast including granola bars and coffee before starting the tour. They then split
everyone up into two groups, so we ended up with Katie as our tour guide.We shortly started walking towards Pink’s and into an employee only area.

From there, we entered the Merchandise Offices, where we were not allowed to take pictures unfortunately.
Two guys who work in that department gave us a speech about their jobs and we were allowed to ask questions. When they finished, we walked towards Hexed and ended up over by
Gatekeeper’s gift shop.

The next part of the tour took us back to the main midway and over to Snoopy Boutique
and Sweet Spot. It was interesting to see these stores while the park was not operating. Snoopy
Boutique had plastic over the merchandise that was still in there, and Sweet Spot was completely empty other than the shelves, candy cases, and barrels.

After looking at the shops, we headed over to Millennium Force. On the way, we passed
some Iron Dragon cars along with their wheels. We reached Millennium Force and were super
excited to see the front of the yellow train along with other cars from red train and cars from the red train. Of course we had to stop to take lots of pictures here!

We continued down Frontier Trail and stopped at Professor Delbert’s Frontier Fling
(formerly known as Ripcord). As you probably already know, Ripcord was recently moved to the former location of Shoot the Rapids. It was weird seeing the ride on Frontier Trail instead of at Challenge Park, but we will get used to it eventually.

After stopping at Professor Delbert’s Frontier Fling, we headed down the rest of Frontier
Trail and into Frontier Town. Instead of walking towards Maverick, they took us over to
Skyhawk and then passed Cedar Creek Mine Ride. We attempted to get some pictures of Mean Streak through the trees, but they did not turn out the best because of having to zoom so much. When we got to a certain point by Cedar Creek Mine Ride, we were told that we had to put away our phones and that it was a no picture zone until they told us we could take pictures again. Obviously, we all wanted to see Mean Streak, but we will have to continue to be patient for the announcement.

The no picture zone ended at Witch’s Wheel. There, we walked up the exit and out at the
back near Gemini. This was a big surprise! They let us walk under Gemini and into the grassy
section in the middle of the ride. To get a better idea of where we were, take a look at the picture below.

We walked underneath Gemini’s track again and towards the parking lot for Cedar Point
Shores. We were able to get a few pictures of Mean Streak from over here, but we had to zoom in a lot again. We stopped in front of where Ripcord used to be and were able to see all of the construction going on for the waterpark. Then, they took us on the road towards the hotel. We stopped in front of the former location of the Magnum gate. The tunnel was completely gone along with Magnum’s photo booth, but we could see that they were in the process of building new structures. Looking at the hotel, we saw construction of the new wing too.

Moving on past the hotel, we walked back into the park through the back gate that
employees use and ended up at Lakeside Pavilion for lunch. Lunch consisted of salad, pasta, and some cookies for dessert. After lunch, we went upstairs for a special presentation by Tony Clark and Jason McClure. They made a few big announcements, such as Melt Bar & Grilled replacing Joe Cool’s Café, a new all season drink plan with disposable cups, and Iron Dragon VR
returning. We were hoping for an announcement about Mean Streak, but they said that there will be an announcement when it is the right time for them.

The last part of the tour was getting to see the maintenance shop. We headed over there
after the presentation and were happy to see the front car of the red train from Millennium Force. This was different from previous years due to the fact that they were actually working in the shop this time. We were all required to wear safety glasses that the park provided. Inside, we saw parts from several rides, including Maverick, Corkscrew, and Giant Wheel.

After seeing the maintenance shop, we headed back inside the park by Scrambler and
walked down the midway towards the main entrance. This concluded the tour, but everyone got a free gift for showing up. Each person was given a 2017 Cedar Point calendar along with a green bag that had a light and a scarf in it. Our group also got a blue Cedar Point Shores bag.

We had a blast at this event and would like to thank the Cedar Point staff for putting it
together! If you were unable to attend this year, we hope that this article helped explain what
happened on Saturday and that you will consider going next year. Thank you for reading this, and we will see everyone in May!